The country of France — which was the most populous country in Europe from the Middle Ages until the early 19th century, and still ranks within the top five today — shares land borders with eight other countries: Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Monaco, Andorra, and Spain.
Last year, France welcomed about 723,000 babies.
What were the most popular names among these babies? Jade (pronounced zhahd) and Gabriel.
Here are France’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2022:
Girl Names
- Jade, 3,420 baby girls
- Louise, 3,412
- Ambre, 3,380
- Alba, 3,280
- Emma, 3,158
- Rose, 2,692
- Alice, 2,520
- Romy, 2,409
- Anna, 2,380
- Lina, 2,355
- Léna, 2,266
- Mia, 2,173
- Lou, 2,114
- Julia, 2,056
- Chloé, 2,004
- Alma, 1,974
- Agathe, 1,958
- Iris, 1,904
- Inaya, 1,875
- Charlie, 1,834
- Juliette, 1,802
- Léa, 1,791
- Victoire, 1,772
- Luna, 1,751
- Giulia, 1,745
- Adèle, 1,718
- Jeanne, 1,699
- Nina, 1,669
- Eva, 1,630
- Olivia, 1,546
- Zoé, 1,523
- Léonie, 1,511
- Romane, 1,481
- Victoria, 1,452
- Nour, 1,372
- Inès, 1,284 (tie)
- Lya, 1,284 (tie)
- Lucie, 1,261
- Lyana, 1,235
- Lola, 1,205
- Alix, 1,182
- Charlotte, 1,176
- Mila, 1,173
- Sofia, 1,168
- Louna, 1,163
- Ava, 1,153 (tie)
- Margaux, 1,153 (tie)
- Elena, 1,149
- Emy, 1,118
- Mya, 1,115
Boy Names
- Gabriel, 4,889 baby boys
- Léo, 4,078
- Raphaël, 3,798
- Maël, 3,571
- Louis, 3,560
- Noah, 3,325
- Jules, 3,308
- Arthur, 3,284
- Adam, 3,212
- Lucas, 2,774
- Liam, 2,715
- Sacha, 2,613
- Isaac, 2,590
- Gabin, 2,561
- Eden, 2,460
- Hugo, 2,447
- Naël, 2,325
- Aaron, 2,287
- Mohamed, 2,237
- Léon, 2,203
- Paul, 2,200
- Noé, 2,154
- Marceau, 1,970
- Ethan, 1,963
- Nathan, 1,899
- Théo, 1,872
- Tom, 1,843
- Nino, 1,825
- Marius, 1,751
- Ayden, 1,717
- Malo, 1,715
- Mathis, 1,636
- Gaspard, 1,606
- Martin, 1,559
- Lyam, 1,549
- Victor, 1,537
- Rayan, 1,484
- Elio, 1,432
- Timéo, 1,424
- Eliott, 1,420
- Milo, 1,416
- Robin, 1,393
- Tiago, 1,383
- Valentin, 1,378
- Ibrahim, 1,359
- Axel, 1,350
- Augustin, 1,317
- Amir, 1,305
- Enzo, 1,270
- Imran, 1,246
The girls’ top 100 included Alya (53rd), Diane (81st), Maddy (90th), and Suzanne (97th).
The boys’ top 100 included Camille (61st), Mahé (66th), Basile (78th), and Andrea (91st).
Charlie is still rising on the girls’ side — which could explain why the parents of baby boys slightly prefer the spelling Charly (73rd) over the spelling Charlie (80th) these days.
In the capital city of Paris last year, the top boy name was also Gabriel, but the top girl name was Alma instead of Jade. (Jade was tied with Léa for 10th/11th place in Paris.)
Finally, here are France’s 2021 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.
Sources: Classement des prénoms en France depuis 1900 – Insee, Demographic report 2022 – Insee, Demographics of France – Wikipedia
Image: Adapted from Flag of France (public domain)
